CONCORD, N.C. — Believe it or not, Jimmie Johnson had been fielding a lot of questions lately about his inability to win.

Like was he worried.

Worried? A six-time Sprint Cup champion.

Yeah, right. It's the competition that should be worried.

"I promise you, all the hype and all the concern and worry, that was elsewhere. It wasn't in my head," said Johnson, who won his first race of the season Sunday night by capturing the Coca-Cola 600 for the fourth time. "There are plenty of voices in my head, but we have had a great race team and had opportuity there in front of us and had it taken away from us.

Kurt Busch, who finished sixth earlier in the Indy 500 earlier in the day, had an adventurous race. Starting at the rear of the field, he got lapped early, got his lap back and then suffered a tire rub after getting clipped on pit road. He then suffered a broken shock, and then his engine soured and eventually blew on Lap 273, sending him to the garage. Busch finished 40th, coming up 194 miles short of his 1,100-mile goal.

"It was a tough break," Busch said. "It takes a team to run 1,100 miles, not just one individual. We just came up short. … All in all, I'm very satisfied. I gave it my all."

After nearly 600 miles at Charlotte Motor Speedway, NASCAR's longest race came down to two big stars who had not won a race this year. Matt Kenseth, who won a career-high seven races last year, took the lead on a restart with 17 laps to go, but Johnson, who won his sixth championship last year, ran him down and passed him for the lead with eight laps remaining.

"What the hell are y'all going to write about now?" he said. "It had been 12 long races. I guess we have created that environment for us."

Harvick, who led 100 laps and dominated the race early, had a loose wheel after a pit stop midway through the race and didn't recover until the end, leaving him coming up short and frustrated again. Harvick has won two races this season but had several more slip away with mistakes.

"Just a loose wheel and we got behind and it took us the rest of the night to get back up front," Harvick said. "(Crew chief) Rodney (Childers) and those guys are doing a great job, we are just shooting ourselves in the foot on pit road and we have to get that cleaned up, because we obvioulsy can't win races even with the fastest car if we make mistakes continuously on pit road. It's frustrating.

"We needed 700 miles to get back to where we were."

Carl Edwards looked to be headed for his second win of the season until a caution flag with 22 laps remaining. Edwards had stretched his fuel mileage and was leading when Cole Whitt wrecked, bringing out the caution. When Edwards and others pitted under, Jeff Gordon stayed out and inherited the lead.

Gordon held the lead on the final restart, but Kenseth quickly blew to his outside and sped away with the lead. It took Johnson just nine laps to run him down, however. Kenseth tried to block Johnson's move in Turn 3, but Johnson powered to his inside and pulled away.

While Johnson celebrated, Kenseth remained the top driver without a win in a year when winning is crucial to making the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

"They had me in front, I just couldn't hold them off," Kenseth said. "Just couldn't quite run with the 48 (Johnson) and the 4 (Harvick). We've just got to get a little better.

"It's frustrating when your team puts you out front and you don't win it."

Gordon, who was suffering from back spasms this week, wound up second after a late pit gamble put him out front. He took just two tires on his last green-flag pit stop to gain track position and inherited the lead when Edwards had to pit during the final caution period.

"It was tough. I was aching in there," he said. "There was one time when I got on the brakes and I felt something, but it settled down.

"We had such a great racecar. I love that call at the end, just like the call when we won the first race here (in 1994). I didn't know if we could hold off Matt but we were going to give him a heckuva run. I got a decent restart but when Matt got to my outside I got real loose and at that point I was just kinda a sitting duck."

Gordon maintained his points lead, leading Kenseth by 11 points. Johnson, who is sixth in points, became the 10th different winner this year and looks to be back on track after a slow start.

"The track went a different direction than I thought it would from a handling setup," said Johnson, who led a race-high 164 laps. "Once we got on top of that, we were really competitive. Clean air at the start of those restarts was key. I was really happy to get by the 24 and the 20. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get by both of them."

Asked if his team is now "back," Johnson said, "They know we are awake. The 4 (of Harvick) has had that momentum this year. They have been able to show a lot of speed and win. Hopefully this 48 is headed that way."

Harvick viewed Johnson's win as another one his team let slip away.

"I look at it as we let them slip one in on us by shooting ourselves in the foot," he said. "You knew one was going to come (for them) soon."

Brad Keselowski looked to be in position to win the race, stretching his fuel mileage and leading with 60 laps to go. When he pitted under green on Lap 343, he was in position to go the distance while most of the leaders would have to pit. But Keselowski felt a vibration in his car and had to pit with a loose wheel on Lap 357, ruining his chance to win.

He was one of several drivers who had trouble or bad breaks in the season's longest race.

Danica Patrick, who started fourth, ran well early but faded during the second green-flag run. She eventually got lapped and faded to 25th. Just past the halfway point, she began to experience engine problems with a dropped cylinder. She then got caught up in a crash on Lap 235 when Marcos Ambrose spun and Brian Scott ran into the back of her.

Her engine finally exploded on Lap 285, leaving a trail of smoke and oil on the frontstretch.

"Sorry guys, definitely not what we wanted, but we did some good things this weekend."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also had trouble. He ran in the top five most of the night until pitting with engine problems on Lap 310. He finished the race three laps down.